Forum Topic

St Paul’s Green - teenagers in the playground

Coming back from coffee and the shops, I saw around half a dozen teenaged boys (in school uniform, but sadly no identifiable blazer badges) playing very roughly on the zip wire in the children’s playground on the green. They were all well into their teens, voices broken, tall and (a couple of them) quite hefty. They were so rough that I feared they were going to break the equipment. Heart pounding, I decided to go for it and asked - nicely - if they would please be careful, as the playground was for little kids. Of course, there was a load of lip in return, including: ‘This is a public park’. Yes, It’s a public park, but the playground isn’t. You want public, go and play on the grass. Some tedious back and forth ensued. I used some choice language and walked off, only stopping to have a look at the Rules & Regs board by the gate, which stated that the playground was for under 11s. I pointed at the sign and one of them shouted ‘I’m blind’ - I shouted back that he was… well, something else more, ahem, ‘fundamental’, if you get my drift. (I’d like to point out that I do not merely spew filth - I enunciate clearly, like an effing lady.)As a child, I was always frightened of the older children when I went to the swings. (By older, I mean 9 or 10, not 15 or 16.) Perhaps I was oversensitive, but seeing older children roughhousing filled me with terror. I’m sure I wasn’t alone in that at the time or - indeed - now. It’s intimidating, makes the atmosphere horrible for children and parents and knackers the playground equipment. I don’t know I what - if anything - can be done. There’s obviously no funding for a full-time park keeper. Even if there were one, I don’t think that teenagers would take any notice of them. When I was little, park keepers were scary authority figures; now, they’re probably as intimidated as the rest of us. My poor husband is sure that I’m going to end up knifed, but I feel that sometimes you do have to call out this sort of thing. It may not be the hottest anti-social behaviour ticket, but it’s really not acceptable. Or am I just yelling into the abyss?

Tracie Dudley Craig ● 28d6 Comments

Does the park have an area for these children to sit and chat/meet up?  The essence of what they were doing was to do just that.  I  wonder if there is a group of chairs to sit on  slightly away from the younger children’s play area.  I imagine their  first intention  was to mix and chat  then secondly they used what was around them, which is only suitable for smaller children.  Is there an adults gym area with seating nearby?  We seem to do very little to allow teenage lads to relax in each others company, yet a group of them can  give off a very intimidating air, just by the nature of their physical presence, aggravated by their posturing body language  and the amazing insolence they have developed in a generation.  I was hit by a lime bike being  ridden  by a 15 year old, out of school halfway through the day, who had acquired a bike.  He rode it straight into the side of my car, halfway along, and told me he  hadn’t seen me because he was listening to his music.  He also said he couldn’t afford to pay, and then took off. Knowing he was stealing from me by leaving me with the huge bill.  Not much you can do really but I found him around the corner happily boasting to a group of  other school children, also out of school, so I asked them which school  they were at and they absolutely refused to tell me.  Even with a video of them the safer neighbourhood team couldn’t track the school and child down.Something the lad and his pals probably knew too.

Sarah Felstead ● 23d

The Neighboruhood teams are not usually about heavy-handed intervention, but more like many people hanker for the police being like they were when I was a kid.They go round a fairly small area - technically now Brentford West from Ealing Road to Boston Manor but they usually work together with Brentford East so include the are up to the stadium and Clayponds. I've missed a couple of meetings recently so not sure how many officers there are but last time I looked there were supposed to be 2 PCs per ward plus a PCSO and a Sergeant chared with I think 3 or 4 wards.I would expect them if alerted to patrol the area where they have heard of a problem. The fact they pay attention sometimes solves the problem without themdoing anything apart from walking or cycling around, but they are obviously capable of having a word in their ears, probably similar to what you did but without any expletives. Not that they won't want to but they are not allowed!

Guy Lambert ● 28d

I don’t think so. To say what? I couldn’t give them any useful information. What outcome would be appropriate? I don’t want those boys to get into trouble, it would just be nicer if they had a little more consideration for others - that includes very small children.I initially asked them to be careful and not to break the equipment as it’s intended for the little children. No acknowledgment of that, just a load of attitude. I can give every bit as good as I get, which they absolutely don’t expect from a little old lady. Their mistake.

Tracie Dudley Craig ● 28d

Lunchtime-ish. Late lunch? Coming up to 2.00? The children from the school weren’t about, but there were some very little ones accompanied by adults.  The boys had completely commandeered the zip wire. It seems to be one of the more popular bits of kit and there wasn’t a hope in hell for any of the tinies getting anywhere near it. It just seemed so unfair. There are often teenagers in the playground, but this was something else.

Tracie Dudley Craig ● 28d

About what time was that? I know a lot of the children from St Paul's Primary play in the park after school, particularly on a nice evening and can imagine they would be intimidated by such behaviour.

Anne England ● 28d

Try the local police team brentford.snt@met.police.ukThey will respond when they can (not always as busy!)

Guy Lambert ● 28d